Welcome to news, views and satire you can use. Anyone offended by this can be assured it is purely intentional.
For comments on this blog: ottozero2001@yahoo.com ★

otto's war room banner

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Kratom—It is time for the DEA to butt out of adult use of herbal remedies

In the US there is one and one only legal drug that
adults are allowed to use and that is alcohol. Is it a safe drug? Some people
become addicted to alcohol. Alcohol withdrawals can actually kill, unlike narcotic
addiction. Millions of people are arrested every year for driving for being
seriously impaired by the use of alcohol. Some people die from alcohol
poisoning.

Some people get liver problems with alcohol. Others
have Hepatitis and can’t drink—high blood
pressure, Stroke, Stomach problems, Harm to unborn children (in pregnant women)
and there’s more.

So if a person has a health problem with alcohol,
they may go to coffee or tea. They may go to sugared soda pop. If they can’t drink
soda pop, their choices can get slim.

So for years I had to quit drinking for health
reasons. Then I got diabetes. The problem is I also can’t stomach diet pop. Tea
and coffee are full of acid and caffeine and they can get overwhelming and
boring if that is all I can drink.

Then there are the various herbal teas available on
line. They can be more relaxing, maybe cause a little mild euphoria. The main
tea that comes to my mind is Kratom. I bought that tea and found it relaxing.
It did not affect my motor skills or cause incapacitation as drinking alcohol
did, so it seemed like a great choice.

For now—but maybe not for long.

It seems that members of our press and our DEA (Drug
Enforcement Administration) are obsessed with making sure adults can’t get relaxing
teas they may want to use. They always use the excuse that mostly kids use
these potions and they seem to patronize us with that “we know what is best for
you—you childish dumb-ass” attitude of theirs.

And then there is the press? They can’t resist a lot
of overblown hype and horror stories that are designed to convince the non-user
that this stuff is the most dangerous drug since PCP (Phencyclidine). The
hype is almost identical to that of what we used to get about Marijuana and it
is just as phony.

“It’s always sold as if it’s safe,” said
Selby Smith, Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge of the Seattle Office of the
DEA. “But in all actuality it’s never been tested. It’s never been
through FDA trials and we don’t know what it does to the human body.”

The DEA is studying Kratom as reports of
emergency room visits by users rise. There have been reports of
hallucination and delusions among users.

But in addition to its possible
medicinal uses, kratom is beginning to show up in U.S. emergency
rooms, with doctors saying they are dealing with people sick from
taking it — especially teens who try it to get high.

"Every month somebody is trying to
get a new 'safe high'," said Frank LoVecchio, medical director of the
Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center in Phoenix, Ariz.
"(Kratom) is definitely not safe."

Estimating usage of the drug is
impossible, but emergency events involving kratom appear to be increasing, he
said. In 2005, only two incidents were reported by poison control centers
nationwide. But Banner’s center dealt with six emergencies involving kratom in
2011, he said.

Some in the news media really know how to pour on the hype. Take
for example The
Daily News;

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office
warned the public Tuesday about the potential dangers of a plant product
known as Kratom, which is commonly used for medicinal purposes in Asia and is
sold in at least one Longview store.

Sheriff’s spokesman Charlie Rosenzweig
said a 31-year-old woman was found dead Monday in the bedroom of her Terry Lane
home. Rosenzweig said it will take weeks to determine the cause of death, but
deputies found a pipe near her body and open packets of Kratom scattered around
her room, suggesting she was a heavy user.

Just a day earlier, on Sunday morning, a
27-year-old Kelso woman was hospitalized after she ran through the street
naked, screaming about Jesus. Police said she swung a hammer at them while
holding her four-month-old baby in her other arm. Police wrested the infant,
who was uninjured, from the woman. The woman’s father said she may have taken
Kratom, and a Kelso police spokesman said Wednesday that police believe the
drug caused her strange behavior.

I have used this stuff and some friends have. We
have had no problems with it, probably because we use it as it is intended—as a
mild tea. Even if it turns out that Kratom is not 100% safe, neither is
alcohol. Adults who can’t drink should have other choices such as marijuana and
kratom. We are not children. Some of us need beverages that can help us relax
after a long hard day. Why does it half to be alcohol or nothing. And some of
us just don’t get much from religion, which is what most of our leaders really
want us to take up rather than alcohol. I for one prefer a relaxing tea over
magic spooks in the sky to make me feel better.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Do you mind if I quote a feω of уour artіcles aѕ long as I provіde credit аnd sourceѕ baсκ to your websitе? My webѕite іѕ in the verу same area of іntеrest аs yours and my vіsitors would truly benefit frоm some of the informаtiοn you pгoviԁe here.Pleaѕe let me knoω if this οkay with you.Thanks!

Featured Post

Webstats

Gonzo Journalism

RED DE BLOGS COMUNISTAS

The cost of maintaining US Imperialism is high!

No other country in the world puts as much of its budget into the military as the US. This country is the top imperialist power in the world today and that is costing us a lot of resources that are badly needed elsewhere.